Process of making cigarettes from continuous cigarette-rods.



m. 7'||,9a7. Pamnm Oct-28, I902.

r. J. LUDINGTON. I PROCESS OF MAKING CIGARETTES FROM CONTINUOUS CIGARETTE BQDS'.

(Application filed Dec. 11, 1901.)

(No Model.)

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'as the wrapper is seamed thereon, so that if the wrapper is pasted in the usual manner U ITED STATES ATENT OFFICE.

FRANK J. LUDINGTON, OF WATERBURY, CONNECTICUT.

PROCESS OF MAKING CIGARETTES FROM CONTINUOUS CIGARETTE-RODS.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 711,987, dated October 28, 1902.

Application filed December 11, 1901.

.10 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK J. LUDINGTON, a citizen of the United States, residing at 27 West Main street, Waterbury, county of New Haven, State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Processes of Making Cigarettes from Continuous Cigarette-Rods,fully described and represented in the following specification and the accompanying drawings, forming a part of the same.

The present invention relates to the finishing of cigarettes which are made in a continuous process by forming a continuous filler and securing a continuous wrapper thereon.

My improved method of finishing a continuous cigarette consists in subjecting it to heat and pressure in a continuous operation as soon as the wrapper is seamed upon the filler, so as to smooth and iron the seam and set the filler and wrapper in the desired shape.

The mechanism for making continuous cigarettes is already well known and does not need any illustration, and the means is wholly immaterial which may be employed in such manufacture to simultaneously heat and press the cigarette. In practice I apply the means for pressing and heating the cigarette to the moving continuous cigarette as soon the seam may be pressed and smoothed while the paste is drying and the surface of the cigarette thus finished in the most perfect manner.

One means of practicing my invention is shown in the annexed drawings, in which- Figure l is a side elevation, and Fig. 2 a plan, of an attachment for placing upon cigarette-machines, in the path of the moving tape, to form the filler, to seam the wrapper, and to apply the heated pressure thereto. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section of the heating and pressing appliances. Fig. 4 is a crosssection of the same on line 4; 4 in Fig. 3. Fig. 5is an edge view, and Fig. 6 a plan, of a cigarette-ironing device provided with springcap. Fig. 7 is an end view of the cigarettepresser, with electric coils for heating the same.

a designates the usual barrel feed-guide,

Serial No. 90,052. (No specimens.)

into which the tape 1) is led, carrying the I wrapper, with a continuous layer of the tobacco thereon. The tape and wrapper are indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 2.

0 represents the seaming appliances, which may be of any desired character. The drawings represent the usual first folder, which turns downwardly one edge of the wrapper while paste is applied to the other by any suitable means. Whatever the seaming device the cigarette-rod is delivered thence to the heating and pressing appliance.

e is the cap of the ironing device, which when a pasted seam is used operates to fold the pasted edge of the wrapper down upon the opposite edge to form the seam like other seaming devices. The cap presses upon the seam and the body of the cigarette while it passes beneath the cap, and the cap in the present invention is heated by any suitable means to iron the cigarette during such movement. The cap may be heated by gas, steam, electricity, or any other convenient means, the fixtures being shown herein for heating it by gas and by electric current.

fis a heating-tube secured lengthwise upon the cap 6 and formed with perforations g, and h is a nozzle to supply a mixture of air and gas to the interior of the tube, which when ignited burns inside the tube and heats the whole length of the cap.

A U-shaped guide 2' is extended beneath the first folder c and the heated cap eand supports the tape and the under side of the cigarette during the pressing operation. This guide 1' is shown extended beyond the lefthand or delivery end of the heated cap and its upper surface beveled to the bottom of the U-shaped channel to permit the flattening of the tape in the usual manner, as indicated by the dotted lines b, to deliver the cigarette therefrom. One edge of the tape 12 is shown in Fig. 4 extended outwardly between the U-shaped guide '5 and the cap 6 to expose a greater portion of the wrapper to the heated contact of the cap, and'the wrapper is indicated by the lines j with its edges folded over one another beneath the cap 6. In Fig. 3 the cap is shown tapered outwardly to exert a gradually-increasing pressure upon the ciga- 1rettel as it is drawn beneath the cap,and thus bring the cigarette into close contact with the heated surface. Fig. 1 attached to the cap e and secured removably to the U-shaped guide 1' by a setsorew g, the handle serving to remove the heated cap at any time, if its channel becomes obstructed. With such construction the cap is in uniform adjustment to the guide 1 and the gradually-increasing pressure is formed by its tapering mouth or inlet. 6 show the cap held movably upon the bottom guide by studs k and pressed toward the bottom guide by springs 7.2, which thus operate to produce an elastic pressure upon the cigarette. With such a construction the tape b is driven continuously, carrying the paper wrapper with it, with the tobacco fed uniformly upon its surface.

The Wrapper is turnedinto trough shape by the feed-guide a, and the seam is formed as it passes under the cap beyond the folder c. The seamed cigarette then moves through the channel of the ironing device, the entering end of which admits the cigarette freely, while the remainder of the channel operates to gradually compress the cigarette-rod. The heat of the cap operates to produce a perfec-tly uniform surface upon the cigarette and t0 entirely free the same from wrinkles, indentations, or irregularities, and to permanently set the rod to the desired shape in cross-section so that it does not lose its form by subsequent handling after it is cut into cigarettelengths.

The channel in the heating appliance is shownof suitable shape to form an oval cigs 5 arette, and the invention is especially useful in the finishing of oval cigarettes, as oval cigarettes when made with two opposite corners by a continuous process do not commonly retain their oval shape very long, but when packed and stored have a constant tendency to assume the round form, so that after awhile the opposite corners of the cigarette disappear and it presents merely a flattened form with rounded edges. Such rounded edges distinguish a machine-made oval cigarette from a hand-made oval cigarette, in which the filler and wrapper are shaped with such care and by such means sired. By my invention the surface of the wrapper and its seam are improved in appearance and the filler of the cigarette is permanently set in the desired shape.

Heretofore it has been common in seaming the wrapper upon a continuous filler to apply the wrapper to the filler, fold the edges of the wrapper one over the other, and secure theoverlappingedgebymeansof paste. The

moisture of the paste when thus applied tends f to wrinkle and pucker the paper by the expansion of the paper along the line of the seam. Such puckering is aggravated by the application of the paste commonly to one edge only of the wrapper, which is necessarily expanded by the moisturemore than the opposite edge, so that when the seam is dried A handle a is shown in- Figs. 5 and operation the seam is simultaneously dried and ironed and the entire surface of the cigarette rendered smooth and uniform. To

secure the best elfect ofthe heat and pressure, the continuous cigarette when seamed is subjected while incontinuous motion to a "gradually-increasing pressure in COHJUHOUIOH with the heat, so as to press upon the surface of the cigarette, and thus smooththe wrapper while the heat sets the filler permanently in the desired shape. If the heat and pressure were applied to a stationary cigarette or cigarette-rod, a little carelessness would'produce an overheatingv of the cigarette; but by applying the heat and gradually-increasing pressure to a continuous cigarette when moving in the ordinary process of its manufacture the operationof the heat is readily limited in the exact degree which is required to produce the best results. icigarettesthe pressure is applied to the sur face of the cigarette rod when properly In finishing oval shaped and presses such shaped surface soas to set the wrapper and the filler into such shape. such that it doesnot lose its formby subsequent handling after it has been cut to ciga- -rette lengths, and I- am thus enabled topro- .duce by a continuous process anarticle of zmuch highergrade than has been heretofore .made.

My experience has shown that heat, with gradually-increasing pressure, can-be applied to the moving continuous cigarette with the benefits noted above and without any risk of injury to the cigarette either in the wrapper .or filler.

The efiect upon-the cigarette-rod is My invention constitutes a great improvement in the art of making continuous cigarettes, as the hot pressing of the cigarette-rod is eEected-while it is inmotion and Withoutadding anything to the time or expense of manufacturing the cigarettes, while it greatly increases the quality of the article byimproving its appearance and by setting it permanently to the form desired. that they retain their shape as long as is de- I have found that machine-made cigarettes formed with crimped seam have some irregularities upon the surface which are entirely removed by the use of heat and pressure acvcording to my invention, and-such crimped cigarettes are therefore improved in appear- .ance and when made of oval form are also oniabled to retain the desired shape, so'that my process improves such cigarettes in both respects.

From the above description it will be understood that the invention is applicable to a cigarette-rodhaving a seamed wrapper, what ever means be employed to form the seam of the wrapper.

Having thus set forth the nature of the invention, what is claimed herein is- 1. The method of drying, ironing and permanently setting in the desired shape a continuous cigarette-rod, which consists in subjecting the continuous cigarette-rod to the simultaneous application of heat and the continuous smoothing-pressure of a pressingiron.

2. The process of making and finishing a continuous cigaretterod, which consists in continuously seaming the wrapper upon a filler, and then subjecting the continuous eigarette-rod to the simultaneous application of heat and the smoothing pressure of a pressing-iron, to permanently set the continuous filler and wrapper in the desired shape.

3. The process of making and finishing a continuous cigarette-rod, which consists in forming a continuous filler, securing a wrapper thereon with a pasted seam, continuously propelling the cigarette-rod thus formed, and simultaneously applying heat and a smoothing-pressure to the seam upon the moving cigarette to dry and smooth the same.

4. The processof making and finishing a continuous cigarette-rod, which consists in continuously seaming the wrapper upon a filler, and thensubjecting the cigarette-rod to heat and a gradually-increasing pressure in a continuous operation, to smooth andfset the continuous cigarette in shape.

5. The process of making and finishing a continuous cigarette-rod, which consists in continuously forming a filler of oval crosssection and seaming a wrapper upon the same, and then subjecting the oval surface of the cigarette-rod to heat and a grad ually-increasing pressure in a continuous operation, to permanently set the continuous filler and wrapper in such oval shape.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

FRANK J. LUDINGTON.

\Vitnesses:

-WILsoN H. PIERCE,

THOMAS S. CRANE. 

